Granger's Wolf

Plans and Risks

She knew she should have rejected his apology; he had insulted her and ignored her for days, but she couldn't say no to that hopeful look he had. He was nervous because of her, and that said something. Also, accepting the apology meant repaying the debt and moving on with a clear conscience.

They spent the following days drawing up a plan to rescue Narcissa Malfoy using Draco's knowledge of her imprisonment conditions as well as the Manor's ins and outs.

When they weren’t busy planning, they had lovely conversations about everything and anything. She found herself enjoying his company, and was enthralled by his wits and intellect. Despite what he had said before, she could tell that he had – at least slightly – saw the fault at his prejudices and beliefs about muggles and muggleborns.

He was grinning, ‘I remember one Transfiguration exam had a terribly difficult question, and it was the only one I couldn’t answer, so I got an E instead of an O. No student was able to answer it except you, of course, and it made me so angry that I wanted to strangle you.’

She laughed, ‘Strange how a muggleborn outsmarted a pureblood, isn’t it?’

He looked at her seriously, ‘No, it isn’t.’

Narcissa, fortunately, wasn't under heavy guarding; Voldemort believed that the Malfoys wouldn't defy him and rescue her, but he couldn't be more wrong. She was kept at the dungeons, watched by three guards per shift. The guards were six newly recruited death eaters, and each three changed every twelve hours, starting from midnight.

They decided to attempt the rescue at midnight; the fewer the lights the higher were the chances of success, also, the midnight shift was taken by three friends, whom Draco frequently saw in Knockturn Alley. Draco and Hermione were to visit the Alley to knock the three guards unconscious, hide them somewhere unplottable, take some hairs, and get Polyjuice potion.

The plan was to drink Polyjuice and transform into two of the three guards. Then they would take over watching Narcissa, while pretending that the third guard was on his way. They would wait for some time to make sure that the former three had gone, get Narcissa to drink the potion to become the third guard, and then they would tell other death eaters that the cell was empty when they arrived. The news would – hopefully – entice ruckus and the three of them would be able to apparate away to the cottage in time.

But the plan was terrible; it could go wrong in so many ways. Firstly, the trip to Knockturn Alley was a huge risk, but they didn’t have Polyjuice, nor did they have the ingredients, and even if they had them, the potion took a month to brew and Draco wasn’t sure if his mother would be able to hold on for that long. And there was no other way to hide the death eaters and get a few hairs. They had thought of sending Baloo to Knockturn Alley to perform the tasks, but Baloo was known to be Draco’s elf and they could either follow him, or catch and interrogate him using their torturing methods. Also, elves were not allowed to buy potions, neither could they steal them; potions had anti-theft spells. Secondly, what if the death eaters, when they informed them of Narcissa’s fleeing, decided to capture and interrogate them? The escape depended greatly on the probable chaos that followed the news of Narcissa’s absence. And thirdly, what if Lucius had altered the Manor’s wards to notify him of Draco’s arrival? Draco admitted that his father had most probably altered the wards, either to notify Lucius of his arrival, or to prevent him from entering the estate at all, or both. They had discussed that probability, and she didn’t particularly like the discussion.

He ran his hand through his white-blond hair furiously, ‘The whole plan depends on the slight possibility that my father had only altered the wards to notify him of my appearance and not to restrict me.’